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 Cape
Lavender Estate, Metricup,
Margaret River
The Cape Lavender Estate
is set in a 75 acre wonderland of colour and fragrance
nestled between Cape Leeuwin and Cape Naturaliste, in the
heart of the Margaret River wine region. The enchanting
combination of lavender and vineyard surrounded by natural
bushland makes them a welcome break from the traditional
wineries of the region and a truly unique tourist
attraction.
Now also open in the Swan Valley
more here..
Bev Ainsworth
purchased the former grazing property in April 1999 after
raising three children and a
lengthy and successful corporate career in
the banking industry.
At that time it was run down, full of weeds and had a hand
painted sign on a chain slung across two posts at the
entrance, which said ‘closed’.
Bev, however, fell in love with the property and moved from
Perth to set up home there and to establish a small business
which her children and eventually her grandchildren could be
a part of.
After
clearing the land she immediately commenced planting and
propagating lavender for oil production, cut and dried
flowers, pot pourri and culinary purposes, as well as
planting a 30-acre vineyard.
Nearly ten
years on, visitors can now enjoy the beautiful lavender
gardens, quality award-winning boutique wines, an idyllic
multi-gold plate winning vineyard restaurant and an on-site
retail outlet selling their range of health and beauty
products and edible produce which is all made onsite in
their progressive production facilities.
The location, its views
and its potential has proven to be ideal, situated just
round the corner from The Chocolate Factory on Carter Road
between the main tourist roads of Bussell Highway and Caves
Road and just off the main tourist link roads of Metricup
and Harmans Mill roads.
They welcome thousands of
visitors each year to their property including tour groups
and weddings, have outlets across Australia, a mail/internet
ordering system, supply grapes to a number of large and
reputable wineries and employ up to 20 staff onsite.
Their growing export
market includes outlets across Asia where they are one of
the major sponsors at a high profile, international
wellbeing, food, wine, music and arts festival in Singapore
each October.
On the first weekend of November each year
they host an annual Lavender Festival which attracts
visitors from around the world to see the 90 varieties of
lavender in full bloom and enjoy a celebration of good food,
great wine, natural health, talks, demonstrations,
workshops, art, music, fun for kids and all things
lavender.
The Gold Plate Winning
Café/Restaurant
Proud winner of 6 Gold
Plate Awards, the highest award Prix d’Honneur, the Sunday
Times Reader’s Award for service excellence and a Customer
Service Council individual staff member award also for
service excellence.
Visitors
can relax and enjoy the ambience and tranquillity of Cape
Lavender over morning or afternoon tea, or a superb lunch
with a glass of premium Margaret River wine including
their own range of Cape Lavender Estate wines and the
world’s first range of lavender wines and lavender beer.
With the
object of always providing the personal touch to all produce
in the Café/restaurant, the Cape Lavender team have achieved
a growing range of lavender related produce including
biscuits, fudge, chocolates, cheesecake, ice-cream, honey,
tea, olive oil and other delicious cuisine.
They proudly grow their organic vegetables and salad
produce, have their own bee hives and each morning freshly
bake their own bread and world famous lavender scones.
An expanding base of guests now return on a regular basis to
enjoy the uniqueness of the food and wine and the personal,
warm and friendly service which the restaurant is now
renowned for.
The
Lavender Product and Produce Gift Shop
To ensure their visitors
are provided with the best choice of lavender themed gifts
they search the world for inspiration. The gift shop is well
presented and sits adjacent to their cellar door, providing
a welcoming, friendly environment for visitors.
They
proudly manufacture all of their totally natural products on
site, developed under the guidance of one of Australia’s
renowned experts who has nearly 30 years in the pure and
natural products industry, manufacturing for companies such
as
Jurlique, Nutrimetics, Coles-Myer and
Australian Geographic.
Their
extensive list includes hand and body lotions, bath and
shower products, gardeners and sports balms, massage oils,
furniture polish, air fresheners etc along with our Aaron
men’s range, Noah’s Ark baby range and special dog care
products.
They
will soon be launching a unique rejuvenating/
anti-ageing range and expanding their range of household
products.
Ongoing expansion includes further development of their
international markets and the planned undertaking of
contract manufacturing. They will also be opening the
distillery and drying sheds to the public to enhance the
visitor’s knowledge of the herb and its multifunctional
uses.
The
Vineyards and Cellar Door
30 acres of vineyards at
their Metricup Estate help to produce (to our knowledge) the
world’s first range of Lavender Wines and their premium
quality Margaret River-style Estate Wines, all available for
tasting at cellar door.
For nearly four years our
winemaker experimented with ways in which the unique herbal
qualities of our lavender could be integrated into our
wines. We were keen to use these herbal qualities because we
believed it would enhance the flavour, taste and style of
our premium wines in a unique way. We were also looking for
a range of special wines to compliment the food offered in
our restaurant.
For each vintage of
lavender wine, we need to harvest the lavender as well as
the fruit of the grape vine. This entails firstly tending
the lavender throughout the year through a well developed
management program to ensure the flowers will be of the
highest quality. When the flowers are at their peak they are
harvested, dried, stripped, sieved and packaged. With the
skill of an alchemist our winemaker then brings the grapes
and flowers together to produce our unique lavender wines.
After the resounding
success of our first vintage we moved on to create a range
of lavender wines. We now offer the original Lavender Wine,
a Lavender Dessert wine; the now famous Sparkling Lavender
Wine (Wendy B), named after the owner Wendy Beverley
Ainsworth; a lavender red and the truly unique White
Lavender Port.
Their
Metricup cellar door was opened in May 2003 and has
developed as planned as the critical link in the ongoing
development and marketing of the extensive range of wines
for the domestic and international markets. In our first
year we achieved above industry bench mark levels of sales
and now distribute throughout Australia and overseas.
The Lavender Gardens and
Nursery
Approximately 22,000 lavender plants were
planted at the Estate in 2003 to provide the raw material
for the distillation of 100% pure essential lavender oil for
sale to the perfume industry and for use on site for product
manufacture.
Cape Lavender now has the largest public
display of lavender in Western Australia. Almost 75,000 are
mass planted over 5 hectares with a lavender-lovers’ walk
designed around our trout-filled lake in a manner which
allows visitors to see how the plant grows in a garden
situation.
Each variety is individually named in distinct garden beds
giving the gardener the opportunity to select the perfect
lavender for their garden.
Their next
aim is to achieve one of the largest lavender collections in
the world, with the objective to host tours for incoming
coaches and domestic and international tourist services.
Membership with the West
Australian Nursery and Garden Association further
authenticated the nursery and assisted with the design and
building of a new propagation nursery to accreditation
status from where visitors can purchase their choice of
lavender plants.
Due to the beauty of the garden we also host
weddings and similar important life celebrations, offering a
full catering service.
Margaret River Concept
Store
In May 2008 they opened
their first high street concept store in Margaret River town
centre which will be the blueprint for further concept
stores across Australia and eventually across the globe.
The
Current Expansion Programme
Cape Lavender will
continue to expand, particularly overseas which will also
generate more publicity for our Australian locations.
They currently have high
profile outlets in Singapore including Takashimaya Shopping
Centre (the internationally renowned departmental store on
Orchard Road), an Australian products importer and an online
baby range distributor.
They are negotiating with Raffles Hotel to have their
lavender wines included on their wine list and are working
with St Regis Hotel on a lavender month where the hotel will
be themed with Cape Lavender products.
They also sponsor the Singapore Sun Festival which is a very
high profile annual celebration of food, wine, well-being,
arts and music attracting performers of the calibre of Dame
Kiri Te Kanawa, Robert Redford and Geoffrey Rush.
They are negotiating with
distributors in China, Hong Kong and Malaysia with a view to
opening Cape Lavender concept stores, the latter being in
conjunction with a major Asian television network.
They have also been approached by agents in India, Indonesia
and Japan who have expressed an interest in distributing
their products and wine.
Domestically, they intend
to expand to the east coast, initially in Cairns and then
Melbourne and the Gold Coast.
The original Cape
Lavender location in Metricup, Margaret River will continue
to operate in its current capacity but production facilities
will eventually be increased to meet the extra demand
created by expansion and increased mail order and internet
sales.
They also aim to put Cape
Lavender firmly on the map as a major events venue with the
annual Lavender Festival getting bigger and better each year
and the inaugural ‘Vibes in the Vine’ international music
festival planned for 2010.
Senior Management Team:
Owner & Founder: Bev Ainsworth
Group General Manager: Julie Lewington
Food and Beverage Manager:
Claude Dupont
Logistic Manager Pascal
Gouionnet
Swan Valley Manager:
Natalee Friend
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